Educational sessions are the backbone of the ISPI Conference. The theme for the 2018 conference is Meaningful Work by Design. We will be exploring the application of design thinking to performance improvement as well as how to create and sustain meaning at work. For 2018, you will have the option of either a Roundtable, 1-hour, 2-hour, or 3-hour format. Roundtable is our classic session of three 20-minute rounds where you present the same topic and content to groups that rotate to your table every 20-minutes. The 1-hour format is our traditional “short”, focused presentations that give attendees a quick overview and synopsis of your topic. In a 2-hour format, you will have more time to fully “spotlight” your topic, share greater detail and impact of your practice, and create more space for attendees to practice and interact. Finally, our new 3-hour “deep dives” give you the greatest flexibility, engagement, and time to completely get into your topic, have attendees practice and create meaning together, and develop transferrable skills.

NEW THIS YEAR...we will have a track specifically dedicated to developing and growing your professional network. Not a true educational track, the focus of these 1-hour or 2-hour sessions will be on connecting attendees with each other for meaningful learning and development at, throughout, and after the conference. Proposals should describe activities that attendees will engage in during the session to develop connections and expand their network. These should be HIGHLY interactive.

ADDITIONALLY…we are excited to announce dedicated sessions for student research presentations. These stand alone 20-minutes sessions will incorporate 3 or 4 academic presentations during a 1-hour session. Students will be lead presenters and can be supported by faculty for development of the proposal and conference presentation.

Conference Areas
Your session topic must align with one of these tracks. Choose the ONE track you think BEST fits your proposal, and then select the session format you wish to present in. Note that not all tracks support all three session formats. If a format is not listed for a specific track, then it is not available

ROUNDTABLE: Dedicated to attendees coming away with a functional understanding of a model, approach, concept, or tool that they can use tomorrow in their performance improvement practice. Participants rotate to a new “roundtable” every 20-minutes for a total of three rounds. Presenters deliver their 20-minute sessions three consecutive times to a new audience each round.

YOUR PROFESSIONAL NETWORK: Dedicated exclusively to making connections and building your professional network and circle of influence. The focus is on making new personal and business connections that will extend beyond the conference with the intent of continued support, mentoring, partnerships, and collaboration. This includes events like ice breakers, affinity groups, resume building, speed mentoring, elevator speeches, job searches, etc.

Short (1-hour)

Spotlight (2-hours)

MEANINGFUL WORK: LEADERSHIP & CHANGE: Dedicated to two focuses: 1) models/methods/tools for leadership, change, and strategy; and/or 2) principles and processes for making people better humans and making them whole so that they can effectively lead themselves, others, and organizations (e.g., topics may center around mindfulness, positive psychology, etc).

Short (1-hour)

Spotlight (2-hours)

Deep Dive (3-hours)

DESIGNING THINKING: INNOVATION & TRANSFORMATION: Dedicated to the impact of design thinking on innovation and transformation as well as its application to performance improvement. The focus is on the fundamentals of design thinking and its use to make individual, teams, and organizations better.

Short (1-hour)

Spotlight (2-hours)

Deep Dive (3-hours)

BROADENING YOUR APERTURE: Dedicated to bringing in content from outside the performance improvement community. The focus is exposing attendees to complimentary and supportive principles and practices from related disciplines that will enhance their overall performance improvement skillset and knowledge. This includes emerging performance improvement practices, the future of work and technology, theories/models/principles from business, management, engineering, etc.

TRIED & TRUE PRACTICES: Dedicated to core performance improvement and systems thinking models, theories, and practices at all levels of performance (individuals, teams, units, organization, communities, countries). The focus is on principles and practices that identify, distinguish, and define the field of performance improvement. This includes best practices and lessons learned from applying performance improvement fundamentals to make individuals, teams, units, organizations, communities, and countries better.

Short (1-hour)

Spotlight (2-hours)

Deep Dive (3-hours)

SPEAKING OF RESEARCH: Dedicated to the sharing and application of research. The focus is on empirical research, action research, literature reviews, poster sessions, and research agenda building. These sessions can be delivery of research content to attendees and/or facilitated discussions regarding research in performance improvement and related fields.

Short (1-hour)

Spotlight (2-hours)

STUDENT ACADEMIC RESEARCH: Dedicated to student presentations of no more than 20-minutes on research findings, updates on current research projects, research-in-design projects, new theory or conceptual model formation, applied research methodologies, or theory building methodologies. Students are encouraged to form teams of 2-3 plus an academic advisor/faculty. At least one student and/or the advisor/faculty must attend the conference. In addition to the online application, applicants will submit a 3-page (all inclusive) short abstract (APA format) describing their research in the Presentation Design and Format section. All abstracts will be peer-reviewed with accepted applicants listed in the conference proceedings. No one researcher/applicant can be the lead presenter for more than 3 presentations during the conference.